Pan-Fried Stuffed Buns (水煎包)

Ingredients:

Dough

150 g all purpose flour
80 ml water
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 tbsp oil

Filling (in excess)

300-400 g minced meat
10 shrimps, shell removed, cleaned & chopped
1 ½ tbsp grated ginger
1 tbsp white pepper powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
1tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 ½ tbsp cooking wine
1/2 tbsp cornstach
1/2 cup chopped cabbage
1 stalk scallion, chopped

Method:

To prepare dough:

In a large bowl, combine all dough ingredients, knead till soft and smooth.

Lightly greased a container, place-in the dough, cover and let proof till doubled in size (about 1.5 hours).

To prepare filling:

In another large mixing bowl, combine all the filling ingredients except cabbage and scallion.

Stir thoroughly to give sticky texture.

Lastly add-in cabbage and scallion, stir to homogeneously incorporate.

Adjust taste accordingly with salt.

To assembly:

Over a lightly floured surface, punch down the dough and knead again for another 3 minutes.

With floured knife, cut dough into small pieces according to preference sizes.

Sprinkle-on some flour, flatten each small dough and roll out thin into rough sheet.

Place a spoonful filling onto the center of pastry, twist to seal the top and flatten lightly.

Place the filled buns on heavy floured plate with seal side down, cover with kitchen towel and leave to rise for about 20-30 minutes.

Lightly grease a non-stick pan, pan-fry buns to brown one side for about 1-2 minutes.

Flip over buns, sprinkles-on about 1 tbsp water around each bun, cover and steam for about 3-4 minutes to brown the another side and cooked thoroughly.

Once water just dried out, flip over buns, and cook the previous side for about 1 minutes covered again.

Remove buns from heat and best serve warm.

Chinese Chives Box (韭菜盒)

Ingredients:

Dough

240 ml all purpose flour
80 ml hot boiling water
40 ml cold water

Filling

2 cup diced Chinese chives (about 1 cm length)
1 ½ cup ground pork (not lean)
1/3 cup dried shrimp, soaked and drained
handful of segmented glass vermicelli noodles
1 tbsp shao xing wine
1 tbsp light soy sauce
3 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp pepper powder
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
1 tbsp of garlic or shallot flavored olive oil

Method:

To prepare dough:

In a large bowl, add-in flour.

Pour-in hot water and stir with chopstick or fork to form crumbs.

Pour-in cold water and knead to form dough (dough will remain sticky).

Set aside covered to rest for at least 30 minutes.

To prepare chives filling:

In another large mixing bowl, add-in pork and seasoning with wine, soy sauce, sesame oil and pepper.

Stir thoroughly to give sticky texture.

Add-in shrimp, noodles and chives, stir to homogeneously incorporate.

Adjust taste with salt and stir-in the remaining oil thoroughly.

To assembly:

Over a lightly floured smooth surface, knead dough into smooth long log (about 5 cm in diameter).

With floured knife, cut dough into 15 pieces.

Sprinkle-on some flour, flatten each small dough and roll out thin into rough sheet.

Place a spoonful filling onto the center of pastry, fold one side of pastry to the another, press edges firmly to seal and pleat accordingly to shape.

Over a non-stick pan, dry-fry or pan-fry dumplings with little oil over low heat to brown both sides and cooked through.

Best serve warm.

Bak Kwa (肉干)

Ingredients:

450-500 g ground pork (not lean)

Marinate:

3/4 tbsp fish sauce
3/4 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar or to taste
1/2 tsp five spiced powder
1/4 tsp licorice powder
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp cooking wine
1/4 tsp salt
1 ½ tbsp honey

Method:

In a container, mix pork with all the marinate ingredients, stir-well to fully incorporate.

Place pork in fridge covered to marinate overnight.

Preheat oven to 100 °C.

Line a baking tray (dimension about 25 x 42 cm) with parchment paper.

Spread the marinated pork portion by portion onto the prepared baking tray as thin as possible (important).

Bake it in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or till firm to touch (test with fork).

Remove from oven and absorb-off any excess oil with paper towels.

Cut the partially cooked pork sheet into smaller rectangular pieces.

Grill each over medium heat for about 10 minutes or till shrink and cooked thoroughly.

Wat Than Hor (Char Hor Fun or Gravy Fried Flat Rice Noodles)

Ingredients:

100 g dry flat rice noodles
100 g mee hoon/mihun/vermicelli noodles

Gravy:

2 tbsp cornstarch in 1 ½ cup water or stock
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp pepper powder
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 egg white, lightly beaten

Noodles stir-fry:

3 tbsp oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
few shrimps/prawns, removed shells
few slices of meat/chicken
few slices of fish cake
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 ½ tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp pepper powder
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
few stalks of Chinese mustard/choy sum, cut to 2 inch length

Chili Paste:

1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp sambal omelek chili paste
4 tbsp oil

Method:

Soak the vermicelli in water for 30 minutes or till soften, drain well and set aside.

Boil the dry flat rice noodles according to the package and drain well; set aside.

To prepare the gravy:

Stir-in cornstarch to stock and bring to boil.

Add-in oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar, pepper, sesame oil and light soy sauce, stir to mix.

Pour-in egg white and do a quick stir to break down into small white pieces as it cooked.

Bring to simmer to thicken the gravy to a desired consistency, set aside.

Noodles stir-fry:

In a wok or deep pan, heat 3 tbsp oil over medium high heat.

Saute garlic till fragrant and golden.

Add-in meat, prawns and fish cakes, stir-fry over high heat still prawns are seared.

Add-in flat rice noodles and stir-fry for few minutes.

Add-in vermicelli and the remaining seasoning ingredients, toss evenly over high heat for few minutes or till noodles are charred.

Add-in Chinese mustard and continue tossing for another short while.

Dish-up and transfer onto a serving plate.

Return gravy to wok and heat through.

Pour the hot gravy over the fried noodles.

Serve hot immediately with chili paste and white pepper powder if desired.

To make the chili paste, blend onion and garlic to yield paste. Heat 4 tbsp oil in wok over low heat, stir-fry onion-garlic paste still fragrant, add-in omelek chili paste, continue stir-fry till aroma, remove from heat and it is ready to serve.

Chinese Fried Noodles

Ingredients:

200 g egg noodles

4 tbsp oil
3 slices ginger, cut into silvers
3 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup prawn/diced chicken/diced pork meat (optional)
2 chinese dried mushroom, soaked and thinly sliced (optional)
1 fresh red chili, removed seeds and thinly sliced (optional)
1 cup bean sprouts (optional)
1 stalk spring onion, sliced long

Seasoning Ingredients:

1 tbsp rice wine
3 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 tsp pepper

Method:

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok and fry noodles until crunchy and golden brown.

Boil the noodles according to the package and drain well; set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together all the seasoning ingredients; set aside.

Heat the remaining oil in wok over high heat, stir-fry garlic and ginger until fragrant and starting to be golden brown.

Add-in meat slices and/or prawn, stir-fry for another 1 minute or till almost cooked.

Add-in noodles and seasoning mixture, stir-fry to well-mix the ingredients and seasoning spread out evenly.

Add-in bean sprouts, red chili and spring onion, stir-fry for another 3 minutes or till bean sprouts just right cooked thoroughly (meantime, adjust the taste accordingly with salt and pepper if desired).

Dish-up and best serve immediately.

Sticky Soy Sauces Chicken Wings

Ingredients:

1 kg chicken wings.

Marinade:

6 tbsp light soy sauce
6 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp fresh ginger juice (from 2 inch knob)
3 tbsp rice wine
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp white pepper powder

Method:

In a bowl, mix together all the marinade ingredients.

Marinate wings for at least 1 hours or overnight covered in refrigerator.

Heat a large non-stick deep pan over medium high heat, pan-fry chicken wings with marinade till golden brown, sticky and cook-thoroughly (about 30 minutes).

Alternatively, grill the wings till golden brown and cook-through (occasionally, bath wings with marinade).

Remove wings from fat gravy in pan and best serve hot/warm as an appetizer or with rice.

Bah Kut Teh (Chinese Meat Herbal Soup)

Ingredients:

1 liter water
1 package (50 g) bah kut teh mixed herbs and spices (any brand of your choice)
200 g pork spareribs/chicken/beef, cut to bite size
Some lean meat
5 dried chinese mushroom, soaked and drained
3 hard boiled eggs, peeled
1 bulb garlic, peeled and crushed

2 slices dong kwai
1 tbsp chinese wolfberry fruits

2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar or to taste
1 ½ tsp salt or to taste

Optional Garnish:

needle mushroom
pork internal organ
chinese lettuce leaf (place on the surface of hot soup just right before serving)
chinese cabbage (place on the surface of hot soup just right before serving)
deep fried bean curd (add into hot soup just right before serving)
deep fried tofu (add into hot soup just right before serving)
chinese cruller (add into hot soup just right before serving)

Method:

In a pot, bring water to boil over high heat.

Add-in meat, 1 sachet of bah kut teh mixed herbs and spices, mushroom, eggs and garlic; bring to boil covered for at least 1 hour (if boil for longger period, may need additional water).

Remove meat and add-in dong kwai, chinese wolfberry fruits and another small sachet of mixed herbs and spices (if applicable).

Seasoning with light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar and salt.

Cook covered for another 10 minutes.

Return meat into the pot and cook for another shortwhile.

Dish-up and serve hot with rice or as it alone.

(Note: best serve on the next day by keeping it warm covered in slow cooker)

Thai Tom Yam 冬粉/Glass/Cellophane Noodles Spring Rolls

Ingredients:

250 g dry 冬粉/bean threads/Glass/Cellophane Noodles
200 g shrimps, shelled with tails-on (omit it for vegetarian version)
5 large dried chinese mushroom, soaked and drained
3 handful bean sprout
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tbsp tom yam kung paste dissolved in juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp sugar or to taste
1/4 tbsp salt or to taste
4 tbsp vegetable oil

enough medium size spring roll wrappers (thawed)
water or beaten egg or 1 tsp cornstarch/1 tbsp water paste to seal

Method:

To stir-fry the cellophane noodles:

Soak noodles in cold water until soften (about 30 minutes) and drain well; set aside.

Heat oil in a wok, pot or non-stick deep pan, saute garlic till fragrant and starting to brown.

Add mushroom and shrimps, stir-fry until shrimps are slightly pink and half cooked.

Add bean sprout and continue stir-fry for short while.

Add noodles and tom yam solution, keep stirring until noodles are well coated with the paste.

Adjust taste with sugar and salt, continue stir-fry till noodles cooked-through.

Dish-up; set aside to cool completely (Best serve hot immediately at this state too :P).

To assemble spring rolls:

Place a sheet of spring roll wrapper on a clean working surface.

Locate enough tom yam noodles on one corner of the wrapper (try to balance among the distribution of noodles, shrimp, mushroom and bean sprout for each spring roll).

Spread the filling lengthwise along the wrapper by using chopstick or fork (reserve some spaces at all edges for sealing).

Fold-up left and right sides of wrapper over filling.

Lift-up the filling side egde and roll upward to the other end.

Seal roll end by brushing-on some water.

Deep fry spring rolls under hot oil till golden brown and crispy.

Remove from oil and drain well on absorbent papers.

Serve spring rolls warm with Thai sweet chili sauce or any favorite homemade dipping sauce (chopped fresh chili in 1/3 cup plum sauce and 3 tbsp light soy sauce).

Char Siew (Chinese BBQ Pork)

Ingredients:

300 - 500 g skinless pork belly or marbled pork, cut into about 1 ½ inches wide strips.

Marinade:

2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1 ½ tsp light soy sauce
4 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp Shen Yuan Hua Diao wine or any cooking wine
1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
1/4 tsp salt

Glaze:

1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp oil

Method:

In a bowl, mix together all the marinade ingredients.

Marinate pork for at least 2 hours or overnight in refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 220 °C.

Wrap pork together with marinade gravy with aluminium foil, transfer onto a baking tray and bake for about 15 minutes.

Remove pork from oven, uncover the pork and broil pork till gravy thicken (turn pork from time to time for even coating).

Alternately, pan-fry pork over medium heat by continuous stirring till gravy thicken and well-coated (pan-fry approach is easier!).

In a bowl, mix together glaze ingredients.

Pour glaze mixture onto pork and return pork to oven or continue pan-frying for short while till just well polished with glaze.

Mee Goreng Mamak (Mamak's Style Fried Noodles)

Ingredients:

Fritters:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
65 mL water
1/2 tsp finely chopped green chili
1 onion, finely chopped
oil for deep-frying

Sauce:

1 onion, peeled
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tbsp chili paste (blend from fresh red chili or commercial chili paste)
1/2 tsp toasted belacan powder (dried shrimp paste)
1 boiled sweet potato, peeled and mashed (yield 2/3 cup)
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
3 tbsp light soy sauce
3 tbsp ketchup
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/3 cup lime juice/lemon juice/tamarind juice (juice of 2 tbsp tamarind paste in 50 mL water)
1 cup roasted peanut, pounded
2 tsp salt or to taste
1 ½ cups water
4 tbsp oil

Noodles Stir-Fry:

350 g yellow noodles
3 potatoes, peeled, boiled and coarsely sliced
homemade fritters' slices
1 egg
3 tbsp oil
1 lime, cut into wedges

Other Garnish Option:

bean sprouts
shrimps with tail's shell on
lean chicken/meat slices
deep fried firm beancurd, cut into small squares
fresh red chili's slices for sprinkling
crisp deep fried shallot for sprinkling

Method:

To Prepare Fritters:

In a large bowl, mix-in flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.

Gradually, pour-in water and knead till smooth dough forms; set aside to rest for at least 1 hour.

Add-in chili and onion.

With floured hands, knead well to mix, shape dough into smooth log (about 3 cm in diameter).

Heat enough oil in wok or pot, deep-fry fritters till golden brown and fragrant.

Drain well on paper towels, set aside to cool and cut into slices with 1 cm thick; set aside till use.

To Prepare Seasoning Sauce:

With a blender, blend-together onion, garlic, chili paste and belacan; set aside.

Heat 4 tbsp oil in wok or pan over medium high heat, saute blended mixture till aroma.

Add-in the remaining ingredients and bring to boil.

Reduce heat and simmer to thicken the sauce.

Remove from heat and set aside.

To Stir-Fry Noodles:

Heat 3 tbsp oil in a wok or pot over high heat.

Add-in meat slices and/or shrimps (if applicable), stir-fry for 1 minute or till almost cooked.

Add-in noodles and seasoning sauce, stir-fry to well-mix the ingredients and spread out the sauce evenly (meantime, adjust the taste accordingly with lime juice, chili paste and salt if desired).

Add-in potatoes, fritters or any other garnish, stir fry for another 2 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium.

Scrape noodles to side, pour egg into middle, stir quickly to scramble the egg, cover egg with noodles and leave for short while (about 1 minute).

Stir-fry for another short while to incorporate all ingredients and dish-up.

Sprinkle-on chili's slices and deep fried shallot if desired.

Best serve immediately with additional juice of lime's wedges.

Penang Lor Bak (Crispy Skin Pork Sausages)

Ingredients:

600 g fatty pork, coarsely chopped
1 ½ tbsp finely chopped garlic
1 large onion/2 shallot, finely chopped (yield about 2 ½ tbsp)
1 ½ tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp soy bean paste, minced
2 tsp five spice powder
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp chestnut flour
1 ½ tsp salt or to taste
2 tsp pepper powder or to taste (I used black pepper)

2 large bean-curd sheets
1 egg, lightly beaten for sealing (I used leftover egg yolks from dark soy dipping sauce)
16 pieces toothpick
oil for deep-frying

Dark Soy Dipping Sauce:

1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1/8 tsp five spice powder
2 tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt or to taste
4 tbsp water
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 egg white, beaten

Sweet-Chili Dipping sauce:

3 tbsp chili paste
2 tbsp pounded roasted sesame seeds
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp hoisin or plum sauce
3 tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt

Method:

In a bowl, mix pork, garlic, onion, sugar, soy bean paste, five spice powder, egg, chestnut flour, salt and pepper to make the filling; set aside to marinade for 30 minutes (adjust the taste by pan-fry a bit of the filling mixture).

Rub bean-curd with wet kitchen towel to solften, cut each sheet to four pieces; set aside covered and wet kitchen towel (if bean curd tends to harden quickly, just soften it by soaking into cold water for about 3 minutes and pat dry gently with kitchen towel).

Divide filling into 8 portions.

Spread a portion of filling length-wise on bottom of sheet (spare about 1 inch on all sides for folding and sealing).

Brush-on whisked egg on all sides.

Gently, fold up bottom edge and roll upward till end to form sausage roll, seal both sausage terminals with toothpick.

Alternately, fold-in sides bean-curd while rolling to enclosed.

Heat oil in wok or pot on over high heat, deep-fry sausage rolls till golden brown, cooked through and crispy skin (about 9 minutes).

Remove from oil, drain on paper towels and set aside to cool to handle-able temperature.

Right before serving, cut sausages into 1 inch pieces and serve along with dipping sauces as appetizer or with rice (best serve along with fresh cucumbers slices).

To prepare the dark soy dipping sauce:

In a small pot, mix-in dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, five spice powder, sugar, salt, water and cornstarch; simmer over low heat for about 2 minutes or till yields smooth sauce (stir occasionally); whisk-in egg white to form fine white streaks; remove from heat and apply warm or at room temperature.

To prepare the sweet-chili dipping sauce:

In a small pot, bring vinegar to boil, mix-in chili paste, plum sauce, sugar and salt; simmer over low heat for about 1 minutes (stir occasionally); remove from heat; stir-in sesame seeds and apply warm or at room temperature (We use to drop chili dipping sauce into the middle of dark soy dipping sauce and gradually incorporated while dipping-in sausage pieces, like wasabi in soy sauce for sushi eating).

Grilled Spicy Sour Fish/Stingray/Skate Wing

Ingredients:

1 (300 g) fish
1 large piece banana leaf/aluminum foil, greased
1 lime, cut into half
1 tbsp oil for grilling

Paste:

2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 knob fresh ginger, peeled
2 shallot, peeled
1 stalk lemongrass (white part only), sliced
1 or 2 dried red chili, softened in hot water
1/2 tsp belacan (toasted dried shrimp paste)
1 tsp tamarind paste in 2 tbsp water, strained and discarded seed
1 lime juice
1/3 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp fish curry powder
1/2 tsp dark brown sugar or to taste
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Dipping Sauce:

1 shallot, sliced
1 red chili, sliced (I used 2 tsp sambal omelek chili paste, it contributes to the red color)
1 lime juice
1/2 tsp sugar or to taste
1 tsp belacan (toasted dried shrimp paste)
1/2 tsp light soy sauce or to taste
1 bird's eye chili, chopped

Method:

Clean fish, make some gashes on both sides; set aside.

With blender, blend together garlic, ginger, shallot, lemongrass, chili and belacan till fine paste; set aside.

Heat oil in a wok or non-stick pan over medium high heat, saute paste till fragrant and aroma (about 2 minutes).

Reduce heat, add-in tamarind juice, lime juice, turmeric powder, curry powder, sugar and salt.

Stir to incorporate and cook for another 1 minute or till paste is thickened slightly (adjust taste accordingly).

Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Rub both sides of fish well with half of the paste (including the internal part and inside the gashes).

Spread half of the remaining paste onto the greased aluminum foil, lay-on fish and spread all the remaining paste on fish.

Fold the aluminum foil into a packet and seal completely; set aside to marinade for 30 minutes.

Heat-up grill pan or a heat resistance flat pan with 1 tbsp oil over medium heat, place the wrapped fish on the pan, cook each side for 5-6 minutes or till cooked through.

Remove from heat, squish-on additional lime juice if desire and serve hot along with dipping sauce as appetizer or with rice.

To prepare the dipping sauce, just mix together all the dipping sauce ingredients to form a homogeneous solution and it is ready to apply.

Spiral Curry Puffs with Sweet Potato Curry Filling

Ingredients:

Curry Sweet Potato Filling:

1 medium sweet potato, diced
1 onion, diced
2 ½ tbsp curry powder
1/2 tbsp sambal omelek chili paste
1/4 tsp sugar or to taste
1/4 tsp salt or to taste
1/4 tsp white pepper or to taste
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp oil

Pastry:

Outer/Water Dough
2 cups all purpose flour
1/6 tsp salt
15 g butter
1/2 cup water

Inner/Oil Dough
1 cup all purpose flour
70 g butter

oil for deep-frying

Method:

Filling:

Heat oil in wok or non-stick pan, stir-fry onion till fragrant and golden brown.

Add-in sweet potatoes cubes, stir-fry for another 2 minutes.

Add-in curry powder and chili paste, stir-fry still fragrant (about 1 minute).

Pour-in water, stir for short while to incorporate.

Add-in salt and pepper, continue stir fry till sweet potato is soften, cooked thoroughly and the gravy is thicken (almost dry).

Remove from heat and leave aside to cool.

Pastry:

Water Dough:

Mix flour, salt and butter in a large bowl, knead thoroughly.

Add-in water and continue the kneading process till form a smooth dough; set aside covered to rest for 30 minutes.

Oil Dough:

Mix flour and butter, knead till dough is smooth and soft, leave to rest covered for 30 minutes.

Assembly:

Roll out both water dough and oil dough into long sausage shape and divide each dough into 6 portions.

Roll out a piece of water dough, fill-in a piece of oil dough and wrap up to form dough ball.

Flatten, roll out flat and roll up into a swiss roll.

Repeat the rolling and flattening process for three times.

For the last roll up into a swiss roll, cut dough roll into two pieces with a sharp knife.

Face the cut side down, flatten and roll out to form a circular pastry.

Place enough filling in the center and fold pastry over to make a half circle, pleat the edges to seal.

Repeat the assembly process for the rest of doughs' pieces.

Deep-fry over high heat until golden brown.

Drain on absorbent paper and best serve warm.

Yield 12 pieces of spiral curry puffs.

Crystal Skin Chives Dumplings (Koo Cai Kuih/韭菜粿)

Ingredients:

Chives Filling:

1 tbsp vegetable oil (I used shallot oil but garlic oil, sesame oil or other cooking oil work fine too)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup dried shrimp, soaked and drained
3 cups diced Chinese chives (about 1 cm length)

Crystal Skin Pastry:

1 ½ cup wheat starch
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/2 salt
300 mL boiling water
3 tsp shallot oil/lard/garlic oil/sesame oil

Method:

To prepare the filling:

Heat oil in a wok or pan over moderate high heat, stir-fry garlic till fragrant and golden yellow.

Remove from heat and let to cool to room temperature.

Reserve 2 tbsp garlic oil for dumplings surface brushing and mix the remaining garlic oil with the rest of the filling ingredients, stir-well to incorporate; set aside.

To prepare the pastry:

In a large bowl, mix wheat starch, tapioca starch and salt.

Pour-in boiling water and immediately stir to mix by the help of chopstick to form dough, set aside to rest for 5 minutes.

Knead dough till smooth and homogeneous texture.

Add-in fragrant oil and knead to incorporate homogeneously.

Divide dough into 18 equal portions and shape to dough balls.

Cover dough balls with moist towel before start to assembly dumplings.

Dumplings assembly:

Lightly grease a surface of large plastic wrapper.

Plate-on a dough ball, flatten with oily hand palm and press outward evenly from center of the pastry to about 3 mm thickness by oily fingers.

Alternatively, cover dough ball with another piece of greased plastic wrapper, rolling out dough ball thin via rolling pin.

Lift up carefully the pastry by the help of greased thin spatula or knife and place-on oily hand palm.

Put-on enough chives filling in the middle of the pastry, fold-up pastry in half, press well all edges to seal and pleat accordingly to shape.

Place the filled dumplings on parchment paper and steam over high heat for about 8 minutes.

Remove from heat and immediately brush-on the reserved garlic oil.

Best serve hot immediately with chili sauce.

Mua Chi

Ingredients:

1 cup glutinous rice flour
2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp think coconut milk
120 mL water
1/2 tbsp peanut butter
1 1/2 tbsp shallot oil

Coating:

4 1/2 tbsp toasted coarse grounded peanut
2 tbsp sugar

Method:

In a microwable bowl, mix together flour, sugar, coconut milk, water, peanut butter and 1/2 tbsp oil.

Microwave on high for 1 minute.

Remove from microwave and stir-well then return to microwave on high for another minute again (repeat the last two steps till the dough is cooked thorough).

Remove from microwave and stir-well.

Add-in the remaining oil; set aside to cool completely.

Sprinkle-on peanut and sugar to dough.

With greased scissor, cut dough into bite sizes and stir to coat well with the peanut and sugar.

Ready for snacking.

Ban Jian Kuih (Peanut Pancake)

Ingredients:

1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp potassium carbonate & sodium bicarbonate solution
2 tsp oil
1 cup milk/water

Filling:

2 tbsp toasted peanut coarse
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp butter

Method:

In a large bowl, combine together the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Add-in potassium carbonate & sodium bicarbonate solution and oil.

Mix well to a smooth batter; set aside covered for at least 2 hours.

Lightly grease a nonstick pan (22 cm in diameter).

Heat the pan over medium heat.

Pour-in all batter, evenly spread the batter via pan swirling or by using ladle.

Once batter turns to translucent (about 5 minutes), sprinkle-on peanut, sugar and butter.

Cook covered for even heating for 15 minutes or till bottom surface become golden brown.

Remove cover, release all sides of pancakes with spatula.

Remove pancake and fold immediately into half; set aside to cool for about 10 minutes.

Cut into triangle shape and serve hot.

Penang Asam Laksa (Sour Spicy Tangy Fish Gravy Soup Noodles)

Ingredients:

1 kg fresh or dried thick round rice noodle (laksa noodles)
600 g spanish mackerel fish, cleaned
1500 mL water

250 g shallot, blended
2 tbsp freshly blended chili paste (from 50 dried chili, soaked, drained and blended)
tamarind juice (filtrate of 2 tbsp tamarind paste (asam jawa paste) in 800 mL water)
2 (2 inches) thumbs galangal (lengkuas), crushed
3 stalk lemon grass, crushed
2 wild ginger buds (bunga kantan), crushed
10 sprigs laksa leaves (d/polygonum odoratum/daun kesom), bunched
10 slices dried tamarind skin (asam gelugor/asam keping)
3 tbsp belacan (dried shrimp paste)
1 tsp sugar or to taste
3 tsp salt or to taste

Garnish:

wild ginger bud (bunga kantan), finely chopped
lettuce, thinly cut
cucumber, cut into thin strips
red onion, thinly sliced
fresh sprigs mint leaves (daun pudina), stems discarded
pineapple, cut into thin strips
fresh red chili, sliced
sticky prawn paste (haeko/harkou/otak udang), diluted with enough hot water
crispy prawn crackers

Method:

In a large pot, boil fish in water for at least 15 minutes or till cooked.

Remove fish from fish stock and set aside to cool to handlable temperature.

Flake the fish meat and discard bones; set aside.

Filter the reserved fish stock to remove any leftover fish bones.

Return fish stock to flame, bring to boil.

Add-in flaked fish meat and all the remaining ingredients, reduce to moderate heat, left to simmer uncovered for at least 2 hours or till to the desire concentration.

Remove and discard laksa leaves.

Adjust taste accordingly with sugar and salt.

Keep gravy hot on low flame till serving.

To prepare the dried noodles; bring enough water to boil, parboil noodles till just right cooked-thorough, remove noodles from boilling water and immediately run under cold water; drain well.

To prepare the fresh noodles, blanch noodles in hot water briefly via the help of sieve.

To serve; assemble individual serving bowls with a handful of noodles in each, add-in a little of each preference garnishs, ladle piping hot gravy over the noodles and garnishs, drain gravy back to stockpot and again ladle piping enough hot gravy over the noodles and garnishs.

Serve hot immediately with a dollop of prawn paste (adjust the amount of prawn paste accordingly to the personal preference) and a crispy prawn crackers on top.

Yau Char Kway (Chinese Cruller)

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
120 mL water
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp cornmeal (optional)
oil for deep-frying

Method:

In a bowl, mix flour and baking powder; set aside.

In another bowl, dissolve salt and sugar in water.

Pour water solution to flour mixture, knead dough till soft, smooth and elastic but remain sticky; set dough aside covered to rest for few hours.

Flours working surface, pin roller and hands.

Divide dough into 2 portions.

Shape doughs into rectangular shape on floured working surface, sprinkle-on cornmeal.

With pin roller, stretch doughs out into 1/4 inch thick rectangular with the desired length X width.

With a knife, cut doughs into individual long strips of about 1/2 inch wide each.

With bamboo skewer dipped in water, swipe onto the center of alternate strips to draw a middle line.

Place undrawn strip on top of the drawn strip.

With wet bamboo skewer, lightly press on the double layers strip to create a middle line on top surface, set aside covered with wet towel while working on the remaining strips.

Repeat these stacking and pressing steps for the remaining strips.

Heat oil in deep wok over high heat.

Pick a double layers strip, hold both end and gently stretch it out.

Drop into hot oil, wait till it floated, turn it continuously with wooden chopstick till it fully expands and golden brown on all sides.

Drain on supported wire rack.

Serve warm with or without dipping sauce (example: mayonnaise, peanut butter, rojak sauce, coconut jam and etc.).

Char Kuey Teow (Stir-Fry Flat Rice Noodles)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup boiled dry flat rice noodles (5 mm)
5 prawns, removed shells
1/2 cup bean sprouts
1 egg
1/4 cup chinese chives, cut into 1.5 inches length
5 cockles, washed, boiled and removed shells
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp oil

Chili Paste:

1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp sambal omelek chili paste
4 tbsp oil

Seasoning:

2 tbsp prawn stock
1/2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp white pepper

Method:

In a small pot, mix all the seasoning ingredients, let simmer over low heat to thicken the sauce; set aside.

To make the chili paste, blend onion and garlic to yield paste. Heat 4 tbsp oil in wok over low heat, stir-fry onion-garlic paste still fragrant, add-in omelek chili paste, continue stir-fry till aroma, remove from heat, set aside.

Clean the wok, heat 2 tbsp oil, fry garlic till fragrant and golden.

Add-in prawns, stir-fry over high heat still prawns are seared.

Add-in noodles and enough seasoning sauce, toss over high heat for few minutes.

Add-in bean sprouts and 1 tbsp of the prepared chili paste, continue tossing for another few minutes.

Spread noodles aside, crack 1 egg into the center of wok, sprinkles-on few drops of seasoning sauce on egg, scramble the egg.

Return the noodles onto the egg.

Add-in cockles, stir-fry for short-while.

Add-in chives, stir-fry for another short-while.

Dish-up, serve hot with white pepper and half-cooked egg if desired.

Hokkien Mee (Penang Prawns Soup Noodles)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rice vermicelli noodles, soaked for few hours, drained
1/2 cup yellow noodles (I used spaghetti and it taste the same), boiled, drained
1 cup mixture of prawn and chicken stock
1/2 of the prepared chili paste
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp light soy sauce
1/4 tsp salt or to taste

Garnish:

bean sprouts, quick blanched in boiling water
spinach, quick blanched in boiling water
water convolvulus, cut into 3 cm length, quick blanched in boiling water
prawns with tail's shell on, cooked in the prepared stock
lean chicken/meat slices, cooked in the prepared stock
fried sliced shallots
hard boiled egg, sliced

Chili Paste:

4 tbsp oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp dried prawns, socked and drained.
1 1/2 tbsp sambal omelek chili paste

Prawn Stock:

shell and head of 300g prawns, washed
3 cups water

Chicken Stock:

500g chicken bone, quick scalded
4 cups water

Method:

Chili paste: Blend onion, garlic and dried prawns with some water, stir-fry in heated oil till fragrant, add-in chili paste and continue stir-frying till aroma, remove from heat; set aside.

Prawn stock: In a pot, stir-fry prawns' shell and head still fragrant, pour-in water, bring to boil for 2 hours or more; filter-off the residues.

Chicken stock: In another pot, add-in water and scalded chicken bone, bring to boil for 2 hours or more; withdraw the bone.

Pour chicken stock into prawn stock; set aside.

Blanch rice vermicelli noodles in boiling water till cooked (about 1 minutes), rinse with cold water; add into a serving bowl.

Add-in cooked spaghetti and the preference garnish items (excepts fried shallot flakes and hard boiled egg slices) into the serving bowl.

Bring 1 cup of prawn-chicken stock to boil.

Add-in half of the prepared chili paste, brown sugar, light soy sauce and salt, continue simmering for another few minutes.

Pour hot over the prepared serving bowl.

Sprinkles with some fried shallot flakes and arrange-on few slices of hard boiled egg.

Serve immediately and the remaining chili paste for extra spice.